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Posted by: HughFromAlice May 1 2009, 09:52 AM

I know that this rocket hasn't quite got into space but I think that what has been achieved with little money and lots of determination will resonate with many of us amateurs at UMSF - the word is derived from the French..... something like 'lover of' - and an amateur can be as good as a professional! If you don't think this is ok for UMSF Doug then no probs if you remove it.

Go here for an article on the launch, flight and return to earth of the separated segments by parachutes of the 1:10 size scale replica of the Saturn VB on its 4500ft approx flight. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/workshop/4315103.html?page=1 - The rocket packed a lot of punch and certainly wasn't a toy. Next orbit, then the moon at 1:10 scale????

Also a great vid on YouTube. Copy and paste - Steve Eves' Saturn V Launch - into the Search bar and enjoy!!

It's a great story and inspiring.

Posted by: climber May 1 2009, 11:00 AM

Great news and great video! The 1st stage even landed strait up...ready to go again!

BTW, my understading is that "amateur" come from the verb "aimer" and you all know what it means.

Posted by: Tesheiner May 1 2009, 11:44 AM

There's a good thread at NSF with videos and photos too: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=16762.0

Posted by: monty python May 2 2009, 05:27 AM

That was amazing - almost even sounded like the real thing when played at 1/10 speed!

As a kid I bought a very small estes rocket and put a way too big engine in it and poof 1 second it's sitting there, the next it's gone. I never found it but a guy 1/4 mile away heard a woosh go past him!

Posted by: Geert May 2 2009, 03:09 PM

As a kid I was always building and launching rockets using those estes engines, until one day I managed to shoot one through the window of our next door neighbor where after a great hobby came to an abrupt ending

Posted by: tasp May 2 2009, 08:30 PM

Does anyone have enough data to calculate the largest solar system object Steve's rocket could have achieved escape velocity from ??

Obviously, Phobos and Deimos would be left far behind, but how about Hyperion or Pallas ??

Fun to watch for his further projects.

Posted by: mchan May 2 2009, 09:03 PM

Oh, to the day when someone will launch a 1:10 scale model of a Saturn V from Hyperion or Pallas.

Posted by: helvick May 2 2009, 10:31 PM

My back of the envelope calculations say that a his Saturn-V was good for about 240m/sec delta-V. I've taken that the propellant mass numbers for his combination of Estes motors was around 120kg, that the launch mass was around 750kg and the motors had an Isp of around 134sec.

That would be just about enough to launch form Enceladus - by my reckoning it has an escape velocity of 239m/sec.

Posted by: ddeerrff May 2 2009, 11:36 PM

Not Estes motors (Estes makes only black powder motors) but rather theses APCP motors were provided by Loki Research http://www.lokiresearch.com/

Posted by: helvick May 3 2009, 09:06 AM

Ah my mistake. In any case I found a direct quote http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/2829/30/1/2/ which put it at 210 pounds which drops the numbers a bit, The maximum delta-V possible would be 180m/sec.

If those numbers are reasonably accurate then a quick look around indicates that Juno would be just about viable (escape velocity 175-180m/sec), Pallas would be well out of reach at 320m/sec.

Hyperion would be guaranteed given that its escape velocity is in the range of 45-99m/sec depending on where you decided to launch from. The largest moon I can find that it could escape from is Mimas (escape velocity 159m/sec).